Machine, reeling or trailing cables are typically used to provide an electrical connection for mobile electrical machines. For example, in the mining or petroleum industry often large electrical machinery is used and each machine, reeling or trailing cable may have to provide power in the order of a few hundred kilowatts. Typically such power is delivered with a voltage of one or more kilovolts and the cables are usually formed from a plurality of bunches of individual copper strands. For example, machine, reeling or trailing cable type 240.3 fabricated by Pirelli Cables Australia Limited comprises three main core conductors which each comprise 19 bunches of 13 or 14 strands of copper fibres, the fibres having an individual diameter of 0.67 mm. Even though the overall diameter of each multi-bunch core conductor of the cable is quite large (typical cross-sectional areas range from 50 to 120 mm2), the moveability of the bunches with respect to each other results in flexibility which makes the cable useful for mobile machinery that requires high power.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional representation of a typical cable connection used to connect such machine, reeling or trailing cables. The Figure shows a plug 12 and a receptacle 10, the plug 12 being connected to a machine, reeling or trailing cable 14. Two multi-bunch cores 16 and 18 are connected to respective sockets 20 and 22. The cable is held in position within the plug 12 by a sealing bush 24.